I thought I was mistaken at first but there was a girl in Manchester city centre (Market Street) with this huge crowd round her. So we went over to see what was attracting the attention.

I wouldn't have thought this was an animal you could have as a pet. Was pretty large too. She then picked it up (all the tourists were taking photos) and walked off with it.

Just really surprised me.

How bizarre.
Unless it was just a rather large racoon looking ferret lol

I know someone with a racoon as a pet..they cannot be completely tamed and do bite and nibble on you..not the best pets

Nope, they are quite unpredictable at times

sounds like this girl has hers well handled

you can keep them with a DWA licence, the amount of money you need to spend on enclosures for most exotics like 'coons is immense though

Coatis are way cooler than raccoons.

What that woman was doing sounds quite cruel to me, taking a wild animal out on a leash in public

Even though it sounds like the raccoon was tame, surely all those people surrounding the poor thing would have been quite overwhelming for it.

Saw a wild one in Canada once, it was a beautiful creature. The locals didn't agree though.

I thought it was weird. She couldn't have been older than 20 (god that makes me sound old), and with her blue hair and EMO look (I'm not judging BTW just describing) she didn't look like she matched the description "racoon owner" if that makes sense. Not that I guess if you google racoon owner there is a type. Just still seemed a really random thing to do with a pet.

Perhaps its always out on a lead but it was walking so low to the ground and it was so crowded it wouldn't be my ideal place for walking a normal sized dog let alone anything smaller.

They stink to high heaven.

I'd never have a wild animal like that as a pet in my house.

three of my friends have pet raccoons and none of the posts i have read sounds anything like them

http://www.oreoandfriends.co.uk/

Hi Im a friend of Sallygill1961 and she notified me of this discussion, I have 2 beautiful fully grown Raccoons that adore going walking on there leashes, fair enough not sure in a built up area with traffic noise but crowds do not bother them you do not need a license but you do need a very responsible head on your shoulders there a little more challenging than a cat or a dog, they do not smell they are predictive but so are all living breathing creatures including humans. I dont have Black or blue hair I am a 42 year old business owner with 2 grown up children who's family is complete with my raccoons, my meerkats (alpha male also enjoys a walk on his leash) and my 2 skunks (the youngest also loving a walk on his leash) I hope this helps you believe what you saw. Dont judge them they dont judge us.

[quote=Butcher Bill;56196521]They stink to high heaven.

I'd never have a wild animal like that as a pet in my house.

Im a friend of sallygill1961 - Who ever told you Raccoons smell???? They smell no worse than any animal if kept correctly, my animals are clean and live in a clean enclosure and are looked after. I think you need to watch some Sky Animal Planet and see what state humans leave there so called domesticated (originally wild) animals in.

Friend of sallygill1961 and owner of 2 raccoons - they have not been ripped from the wild and sold to the pet trade they are UK bred raccoons that probably originate from the Fur Trade.... I suppose you would buy one as a coat now I think that is cruel.

as you can see my friend is very passionate about her animals i only have 2 cats and 5 guinea pigs so quite ordinary in comparison but looking forward to meeting oreo one day for one of his famous belly rubs

[quote=sallygill1961;56206112]
I too thought they stank. Is this a myth?

the one they had at college's outside enclosure stank, but that was probably because it (or maybe just the water trough) never got cleaned...

the inside enclosure never really did though
meerkats are said to smell, but i can't say they're especially ripe
if you keep on top of hygiene routines, most things are next to odourless anyway

[quote=TennisFreak08;56208319]
sandra one of my friends said so yes i knows skunks supposedly do but you can have their scent glands removed i believe sandra had one of hers done due to health problems and the vet advised it

Well anything will stink if hygiene isn't up to scratch but I would think that's more the owner's fault than the animal's.

Nice to see something out of the ordinary, friend of Sally Gill 1961!

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...18655904_n.jpg

this is one of her raccoons bobo

Awww, beautiful Bobo. Is s/he friendly?

yes very they all are